mandela celebrated his 94th birthday this past july with a cbs news crew given require access to the party. back in this country, we are just over three weeks away from falling over the so-called fiscal cliff, that combination of tax increases and deep federal spending cuts. nancy cordes reports the back-and-forth showed no sign of letting up today 20 white house and the republicans in congress. >> reporter: in his saturday weekly address, president obama signaled he is open to making cuts on programs like medicare and medicaid if republicans agree to raise tax rates for the rich. >> i'm willing to find ways to bring down the cost of health care without hurting seniors and other americans who depend on it. and i'm willing to make more entitlement spendings cuts on top of the $1 trillion in spending cuts i signed into law last year. >> reporter: his remarks came one day after house speaker john boehner announced the talkes were stalled. >> well, this isn't a progress report because there's no progress to be report. >> reporter: his democratic counter-part ploals blamed boehner for the